Media

Dead Rising: Watchtower, the all-new original movie based on the video game franchise, is available only on Crackle. Xbox Live members (Xbox One and Xbox 360) with the Crackle app installed will have the movie available exclusively for one week from March 20-26.

Trapped in a quarantined city, three survivors must evade infection while tracking down the cause of the epidemic. Starring Jesse Metcalfe, Meghan Ory, Dennis Haysbert, Virginia Madsen, Keegan Connor and Rob Riggle.

It was a busy week last week, with new tools releasing to Windows 10 developers at GDC to enable them to build great games for both Xbox and Windows. We’re eager to share that more features are coming to the Xbox app on Windows 10 as part of our monthly effort to deliver new functionality to the Xbox app. Today, we are adding the following features:

More ways to connect with your friends.

Game Clips – View game clips created on Xbox One and watch popular game clips from the Xbox Community. Download game clips from Xbox Live directly to your PC.

User Profile – Profile headers will now be collapsed by default to show more profile information on the screen.

Friends Search – Use the search box at the top of the friends list to find an existing friend by gamertag or by real name if they are sharing it with you.

More control of your experience.

Improved Window Sizing – The Xbox app adapts to changing window sizing to more intelligently display different views dependent on the size of the application window.

Connect to your Xbox One – Remotely control your Xbox One from the Xbox app using a virtual game controller.

OneGuide and Universal Remote Control – Access OneGuide and the Universal Remote Control to change channels, manage volume or access the DVR on your set-top box connected to your Xbox One.

Games – See recently played Xbox Live games across devices – that includes Windows 10 devices, Windows Phone, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

The Xbox app will automatically update to the March version when it becomes available in the Windows Store. Once you receive the update, your version number should be 3.3.3019.0 or higher. You can verify the version number of the Xbox app under Settings. To read more about these features, check out the full story at Xbox Wire.

The Xbox Feedback site has a new Xbox on Windows 10 sub-forum so you can easily submit your ideas and vote up ideas for improvements you would like to see for the Xbox app on Windows 10. We value your feedback and would love to hear from you.

The Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta will be available to anyone who owns a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection from Dec. 29, 2014 through Jan. 18, 2015. Get ready for 4v4 multiplayer arena gameplay or sit back and watch the action in the new Spectator Mode. Read the full announcement over at the Xbox Wire.

Watch the below video as I showcase some of the features you can expect to see in the first week of the beta.

We’ll answer some of your questions, talk about the latest game releases, as well as other random topics. We’ll have some game codes to giveaway, plus Geoff Keighly will be joining us live from Las Vegas to talk about the The Game Awards.

Remember earlier this year when I went out to the desert of New Mexico to join Director Zak Penn and get to the bottom of the legend of the ET Atari cartridges being buried? The full story can now be told in the form of “Atari: Game Over” now available for free on Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox Video.

“I’m quite serious when I say this is one of the best video game documentaries ever made. That’s still a pretty niche field, but Atari: Game Over belongs up there with Indie Game: The Movie and King of Kong as a real standout.” – Hayden Dingman, PC World

“After getting an advance screening this weekend, GeekWire highly recommends the film, particularly for gamers who grew up in the era of the Atari 2600 — and even more for those who didn’t, as a way of appreciating the roots of the games they play today.” – Todd Bishop, GeekWire

“Atari: Game Over is a wonderful movie. It’s a love story about video games, the people who play them and the people who make them.” – Colin Campbell, Polygon

“The hour-long film chronicles the rise and fall of Atari by literally uncovering the truth of what happened to millions of unsold ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial’ videogame cartridges in 1983.” – Marc Graser, Variety

Earlier this year, I was fortunate to be present as a group of gaming fans, media, and one really big excavator gathered in the New Mexico desert to uncover videogame history. You may have seen that yes, ET was buried in an Alamogordo landfill. But the real story story is how thousands of Atari artifacts (or more!) ended up there in the first place.

On Thursday, November 20th, Xbox and Lightbox will present “Atari: Game Over” exclusively on Xbox One, Xbox 360, and xboxvideo.com. The documentary is free on all of these platforms, for both Gold and Silver Xbox Live members.

“Atari: Game Over” will utilize a number of interactive features on the Xbox platform, including the ability to leave comments on the film that stay on the film’s timeline so your friends can see what you said at the same point in the film. The film’s director, Zak Penn, will also leave comments. There are also numerous outtakes and behind-the-scenes clips that are accessible for viewers.

I had a chance to see an early cut of “Atari: Game Over” during this summer’s San Diego Comic-con, and I think gamers of all kinds will enjoy seeing the Golden Age of videogames from the inside, even if they weren’t alive at the time.

Here’s the official description for “Atari: Game Over” – I’ll send out a tweet when it’s available to watch later this month:

Xbox is proud to present a new documentary film “Atari: Game Over” with two-time Academy Award winning producer Simon Chinn (“Searching for Sugar Man” and “Man on Wire”) and Emmy winning producer Jonathan Chinn (FX’s “30 Days” and PBS’s “American High”), through their multi-platform media company, Lightbox. The film explores the fabled Atari mystery, dubbed “The Great Video Game Burial of 1983.” As the legend goes, the Atari Corporation, faced with overwhelmingly negative response to the E.T. video game, disposed of millions of unsold game cartridges by burying them in the small town of Alamogordo, New Mexico. “Atari: Game Over” is directed by writer/director Zak Penn (“X-Men 2,” “Avengers,” and “Incident at Loch Ness”). It will air exclusively on Xbox One and Xbox 360 on November 20, 2014.